These articles are published in the Slough Town FC programme. The Rebels play in the Southern Premier - just seven leagues below the Premier League. I’ve been supporting Slough since the beginning of time despite now living in Brighton. After nearly 14 nomadic years we finally have a brand spanking new home in Slough.

Sunday, January 03, 2016

THE POWER OF TWITTER

Printed in the Southern League Premier Division game v Kettering Town on Saturday 9th January 2016. This game was postponed and eventually played on Tuesday 1st March 2016. We lost 3-1 in front of 294

This
is a story about social media, never ending rain and a football
chairman with his finger on the pulse – or at least the keyboard of
his phone.

While
the incessant rain in the north had led to homes and football grounds
going under water, the South had escaped the worse of the deluges. So
when the call came through that the Hungerford game was off, it was
time to start searching for local games using the world of twitter as
my friend. Now twitter can be time-consuming, self indulgent,
distracting nonsense and I often find myself about to post something
before deleting it knowing that no-one apart from my immediate family
really care about the funny face they had pulled when I waved an
organic carrot at them (there's an UglyFruitandVeg twitter account that
covers that). But for political protests and football clubs it is a
godsend and something that I put in my Non League Manifesto as
something leagues should demand as essential. Forget penalising clubs
for that extra turnstile that no one will ever squeeze through or
that 250 seater stand that will remain empty for most of season, what
the FA should be doing is finding ways to improve pitches so more
games can be played on them and a crash course on twitter. In Slough,
you have Robert Stevens who keeps you up to date with Berkshire sport
while in Sussex we have some great non league feeds like Sussex Football and top football blogger Ian Townsend who champions Sussex
teams.

Lewes
proudly announced there wasn't a problem with their pitch, but just
as I was heading for the bus to the Dripping Pan, the game was called
off. Thousands in lost revenue and unsold food and beer for a
community owned club bottom of the league is hard to swallow; and
while angry tweets complained it was called off too late I think we
should cut the club some slack. Lewes cant even win at home let alone
predict future weather patterns.

Throughout
the morning, the Shoreham chairman, Stuart Slaney had kept up
incessant chat – as games were called off, he tweeted to the clubs encouraging them to come to Middle Road. It was like that
voice at the back of your head telling you to ignore the Dry January
nonsense and buy that pint at the bar.

Non
League is a small family and Stuart knew that there are no massive
rivalries at this level and fans wanting to fill the long festive period with
another game, they could be tempted if he just kept chipping away. So
when I made my way across the quagmire of the park that surrounds the
ground half hour into the game, I became the 149th person
through the gate. The best crowd of the season for a club that
averages around 60, with supporters from Eastbourne Town, Whitehawk
and Lewes in the crowd and no doubt others. 13 hours spent on the
pitch by the groundsman last week had really paid off. By the end of
the game the pitch looked like my allotment, but with no home game
meaning no income for two weeks, it was financially important to get
the game on.

It
was also a game where you could also guarantee goals, although
Shoreham hadn’t gloated about just how bad their opponents were on
twitter. St.Francis Rangers are rooted to the bottom of the Southern
Combination League premier division with no points from 22 games,
just two goals scored and 151 conceded - officially the worst team in
England. At the beginning of the season their manager had left taking
all their players. With relegation a dead cert, it would be too easy
to throw in the towel but with a thriving youth set-up St.Francis,
just like Shoreham, is more than just about the first team. In the
end it finished 8-0 and with every goal, Mr.Chairman asking everyone
if he had the score right before tweeting. It would have been worse
if it hadn’t been for the Rangers keeper who looked like an
abominable mud monster at the end

Shoreham
is now managed and populated by the team that played for East
Grinstead who won promotion to the Ryman League a few seasons back,
something that Shoreham aspire too. But rather than just throw money
at promotion, the trick is to find the formula that lures Albion fans
occasionally to populate the terraces and get more locals going to
games. Which as any non league official will tell you is bloody hard
work. Building your club through youth teams means at least there are
youngsters at Shoreham who have to fetch lost balls and get into the
habit of live Saturday football. And as they spend most of their
teenage years glued to their phones, they will no doubt be getting a
gentle electronic reminder from the Shoreham chairman to get along
and support their team.